Tapestry
by leibyisroel
Summary: Mark's Deathbed


Disclaimers: I do not own or have any relation with anyone from ER, nor do I own the rights to the song _Tapestry_ by Carole King. 

Spoilers: Through Season 8 (including speculations).

Characters: MG (mostly)

Rating: G (with some morbidity)

My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue

An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view

A wondrous woven magic in bits of blue and gold

A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold

He was laying in the ER, watching everything going on around him. He'd never seen it from this side before, it was so impersonal. He felt like he was on display for everyone to see and poke at. Why didn't anyone tell him what was going on? Nurses were coming and going, checking his IV, his vitals, just looking. Doctors kept coming in too, just to check out the rumours. "It's really him." "I can't believe it." "He was such a good guy." "He doesn't deserve this." They were treating him like an exhibit, coming in to gawk at him and then leave without a word for him.

_When I first started here my life was so very different. I was looking forward to life, to getting old, to being a grandparent, to becoming a chief attending, maybe head of the ER. I had finished school, she was almost done with school, we was married, had one kid, both parents alive, everything was going great. I was getting promoted, had a great position, my health was great, what else could I want? How could I have been so naïve? Why did I tempt fate, being so content like that? _

Once amid the soft silver sadness in the sky

There came a man of fortune, a drifter passing by

He wore a torn and tattered cloth around his leathered hide

And a coat of many colors, yellow-green on either side

A change of shift occurs. New people come in to check his vitals, change his IV, see how he's doing. Those going off shift come in, to say a last good-bye if this is indeed the time. "Keep trying man." "You can beat this." "We've scheduled you for next week." "Good luck doctor." Why were they all being so morbid? What was wrong? Why didn't someone tell him? Who were all these people? Why were they all coming in? 

_ She graduated from her schooling. A wonderful job opened up to her. Only one problem, it was quite a distance away. Could she manage the commute daily? Should I try to move to a job closer to her great opportunity? We tried the commuting first, it just didn't work. Then we tried being a family only on weekends, that didn't work either. I tried to get a job there, but it just didn't work out. We attempted a long distance family, but it just didn't work out. It was too hard on her, too hard on our daughter, too hard on everyone, everyone but me, I wanted to stay a family, I wanted my life to remain happy and the same._

He moved with some uncertainty, as if he didn't know

Just what he was there for, or where he ought to go

Once he reached for something golden hanging from a tree

And his hand came down empty

_ We ended up divorced, then my parents died. I was devastated each time someone left my life. I wanted my daughter with me, but often it just didn't work out with her life being there with her mother and the friends she had made in their new life. My life was turning out to be not so great. I tried to get together with other women, but it just never worked out. She got remarried, our daughter had a new father. I was replaced. I was alone, until she came along and we got married. We had a daughter, worked in the same place, had a lot of things in common, everything was going great again. My first daughter came back to my life. Almost all my favourite people alive were with me. I only wish my parents had been alive to see this._

Soon within my tapestry along the rutted road

He sat down on a river rock and turned into a toad

It seemed that he had fallen into someone's wicked spell

And I wept to see him suffer, though I didn't know him well

People keep coming by to look, not believing what they hear. "It's really him." "How could this happen?" "He doesn't deserve this." Many start crying at what they see, such a good man in such a sad situation. They try to keep a smile on while in the room, leaving the room to cry and weep. He looks so thin and weak. How could he keep on living? So many tubes, so many machines, how much longer could he last? Was he still aware of what was going on? Did he know what was happening?

_ We tried to keep as normal a life as possible, treasuring the good times, valuing all the healthy years. Then, **it** came back. What were we to do? It couldn't be cured, but could it be held off? We went to New York to the best doctors to see what could be done. I did all I had to, to keep my health and my job. I underwent therapy, treatment, testing, the works. Would it be cured a second time? Could we beat the odds again? What would they do without me? Would they survive? Would anyone miss me? Was my life really worth anything? Did I really have an influence on anyone?_

As I watched in sorrow, there suddenly appeared

A figure gray and ghostly beneath a flowing beard

In times of deepest darkness, I've seen him dressed in black

Now my tapestry's unraveling; he's come to take me back

He's come to take me back

A familiar voice, a soft caress, and then nothing, just a long, steady beep. "He's gone Dr. Corday, he was my mentor and my friend, I'll miss him too."

"Good-bye Mark, I love you," she said, as I passed into the darkness.

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